Article February 21, 2005 Issue

BACKUP FROM ABOVE

By Ruby Bennet

"JUMP'EM," MY BOYS SHOUTED AS THEY KNOCKED OVER DESKS AND STAMPEDED out of the classroom. It was a stifling May afternoon, the kind when tempers flare and the wrong look can set off a fight. A group of teenagers of a different ethnicity and style of dress had walked past the front of our junior high, and before I could stop them, my students were up and out the door.

That day there were no police cars along the bus circle to provide support, as there had been at other times when tensions were high at this city school. But I was convinced God was there, and that, to me, was enough. Moving toward the door, I remembered that no situation could be out of God's control. His children are always safe and secure no matter where they are, in or out of school. I felt confident that the idea of education, of recognizing and utilizing our true intellect and abilities, is a spiritual one, and nurtured by God.

At that time the administration at our school was weak, and teachers either succeeded or failed based on their own ability to maintain order. To deal with this, I was beginning each day in prayer, establishing a spiritual sense of order in my consciousness before I left home. Confidence, humor, warmth, and spiritual, no human circumstances could shake them loose.